* The It Experience
The It Experience is a free haunt on the corner of Hollywood and Vine to promote the new film. The outside is magnificent as if it was ripped right out of the pages of the novel. I made a reservation when it was a first announced and I'm glad I did since the walk-in line stretched around the building and down the street. It now has expanded hours form 11am to 11pm daily until September 10th.
Anyway, now to the actual experience. Georgie leads groups of 7 (our own Loser's Club) throughout the house, urging us in frightened whispers to stay together and not wander off. Our Georgie really roleplayed well and acted like a scared kid for the duration, which helped the atmosphere. The house is creepy with cobwebs and random, dusty artifacts everywhere. Noises from scares in other rooms can be heard as a small preview of what's to come. Pennywise's voice provides the first jumpscare behind a closed door that made me jump. Maps of Maine and other It easter eggs litter the walls. This haunt does something that most don't: it forces you to stay in the room for longer than the times it takes to walk through it. The first room was the scariest to me. Clown statues stood all over with a small coffin in the middle of the room. An eerie music box tune plays and the door opens (with a jumpscare) but nothing's in it. The clown has been in the room the whole time and he reveals himself after some suspense.
The next room shows a TV show taken over by Pennywise with a wholesome host surrounded by children chanting "kill them all." On the back wall, the projection scene from the trailer is recreated as we see the family pictures of Bill and George until Pennywise is revealed. Going to the next room has flickering lights and disembodied hands grabbing at you through a wall. Unfortunately, the hands looked pretty cheesy and fake, but the thought was cool. The next room has three doors to choose from labeled not scary at all, scary, and very scary with Close to You playing in an eerie music box tune and flashing lights come from behind the doors. The walls are papered with missing children signs. The first has a creepy animatronic clown and the second has a real clown jump out. We are led through the final door into a bathroom with guts in a bathtub and skittering cockroaches. (Presumably) Beverly stands in front of a sink screaming as it spews blood, an exact scene from the book. It ends with It in the sewers in one last jumpscare that's broadcasted a little too early and perhaps a little too clearly lit for an animatronic.
Overall, The It Experience is a good haunt that uses the suspense of being in the rooms for an extended period of time to heighten fear. The Georgie actor I saw was excellent, but I saw some videos of other less impressive ones. I love the music that played throughout and I hope it's from the film's score. Pennywise's voice was everywhere, unifying the maze even though a lot of it was just about fear of clowns. My biggest disappointment was that so many of the scares were completely unrelated to the story of It. Other than that, it's totally worth going to especially as a free event.
More to come!
No comments:
Post a Comment